"This operation is not present in GUI wallet right now, but can be done by using bid_collateral command in CLI wallet or constructing the operation manually."

There's no step by step instructions in the Tech Support section of the forum either..

i.e how to access,...the command lines that one would use

Isn't this at least something the BitShares Foundation would do in the "Public interest" or to at least spark more interest in BTS by regular traders, speculators or just average Jjoes willing to a gamble.??

or is this bitAsset revival limited to "BTS insiders"... How could a benevolent whale participate (if such a person exists!) even if he or she wanted to?

Thanks for the response and the link to instructional video..Things are much clearer now..

I think I'm going to use a chunk of my income tax refund to invest in BTS, The technology has got to be worth more thana nickel and has more utility than "cryptoKitties"

This bear market.. just as much as a US government "partial" shutdown has to end sooner or later..

Given the outrageous prices of prescription medications in the USA...I've wondered why hasn't some entrepreneur developeda dApp that would allow users to use bitUSD or other bitasset bitPeso etc. to pay to their regular online discount pharmacy..not only would they save money on drug prices but also transaction costs, FX fees, etc..and the pharmacies would save on costs as well..

I think this is the kind of "Use Case" that could raise BTS market profile to the level of prominence that BTC and ETH enjoy even though it's obvious they're use for consumer payments is limited by transaction speed..

The way you have worded your question kinda leaves it open to several interpretations,.I think if you ask your question more precisely it might be easier to answer...

Having said that, my view is simple..bidding on the settlement fund debt is basically betting on the future of BTS ( and indirectly I guess on the success of BEOS and EOS)

So the only question is how much do you want to bet..

i.e how much debt do you want to acquire and how much additional collateral do you want to add to your margin account to secure it..

If I understand your question correctly...the only way to "arb"...(i'm guessing you mean arbitrage) this is to buy bitUSD in the open market in exchange for whatever other assets you have which would "protect" you in case of a BTS price decrease. e.g for every X amount of BTS collateral you can acquire Y bitUSD. {Also you could buy any other bitAsset as well I suppose}

HOWEVER...this kind of arbitrage strategy would only be worthwhile if bitUSD is revived and normal operations (i.e borrowing) are resumed..

I believe that some combination of BTS, BTC, ETH, etc...price increase within an overall bullish cryptocurrency market environment that coincides with a sufficient number of successful bids during the auction of the settlement funds,(enough to surpass the 175% MCR). will trigger the revival of bitUSD.

Maybe someone can correct me..but I think the size of the settlement fund is about $5.7m ? so a few whales could help jump start the process without putting too much their assets at risk...maybe .01%

I hear Jeff Bezos' ex-wife has some surplus assets..maybe BM can persuade her to invest in BTS instead of another Sotheby's Auction..Ha!

-By bidding for the settlement fund we are essentially bidding for a position at a specific bitusd/bts price?

-If enough bids happen and this revives, we essentially skip the step of having to sell bitusd for bts in the open market after borrowing bitusd into existence?

-If the above is correct and we had enough BTS backing, we could essentially open a position at $0.01 with 1k debt and 100k collateral?

End of the day I want to borrow bitusd and buy more bts with it by using existing bts as collateral. Since that is not available at the moment, is the above method correct to get a position when this revives?